Plane catches fire while skidding down runway during rough landing in Canada

Tragedy averted as plane’s wing skids off runway and bursts into flames at Halifax airport, Canada

Tragedy was averted on Saturday, December 28, when one of the wings of an Air Canada flight scraped the runway during landing at Halifax airport, sparking a fire.

CBC News reports that the incident occurred around 9:30 pm AT, as the flight from St. John’s approached the airport.

Passengers described the plane tilting to a 20-degree angle and a loud, crash-like noise as it touched down. Nikki Valentine, a passenger on board, explained that one of the plane’s tires failed to deploy correctly during landing.

“As the plane tilted, we heard a loud sound, almost like a crash, and then the wing skidded along the runway, along with what I assume was the engine,” Valentine recounted to CBC News.

“The plane shook quite a bit, and soon we could see fire on the left side, with smoke starting to come in through the windows,” Valentine added.